Petitions ask support for women ’ s center

S ev e ra l c a m p u s w o m e n ’s groups are planning to circulate p e ti t io n s n e x t w eek in an attem pt to spur enough student and faculty in te re s t to s ta r t a w o m en ’s r e s o u rc e c e n te r a t Notre Dame. T he W om en’s R e so u rc e Committee is spear-heading the attem pt to establish a center for w om en’s activities on cam pus with the help of several o ther organizations including Campus Alliance for Rape E lim ination (CARE) and Feminist Forum. Leaders of various groups met in the Library Pit yesterday to d isc u s s o b je c tiv e s an d s tra ta g e m for c ircu la tin g the petitions around campus. “All w e ’re a sk in g fo r is a p lace to m eet and coo rd ina te events,” said Linda Chalk of the W om en’s Resource Committee. “Look w hat w ere forced to do now—w e’re squished onto a lit­ tle table in the basem ent of the library.” Patty O’Donnell of the Com­ m itte e sa id th e i r e f fo r ts to establish a resource center have been hit-and-miss. The Office of S tuden t A ctiv ities h as le t the g roup se t up p e titio n sign ing s ta tions in L aFortune S tudent Center, H esburgh L ibrary and bo th N orth and South D ining H alls, bu t b u t it took over a week to respond to O’Donnell’s request, she said. O’Donnell said o ther Univer­ sity offices have openly blocked the wishes of the Committee. “We asked the Office of De­ v e lo p m en t for a sm all office with a desk, a telephone and a filing cabinet,” she said. “I came hom e from class one day and fo u n d a m e ssa g e from th e D irector of Developm ent’s sec­ r e t a r y —I d id n ’t ev en g e t a c h a n c e to ta lk to th e d i r e c to r —on my a n s w e r in g m achine that said ‘There is no p lace fo r th is m a t te r a t th is tim e.’” By c ircu la ting petitions, the group hopes to show University officials th a t th e re is s tu d e n t in te re s t in a cen tra lly located hub tha t coordinates speakers, l i t e r a tu r e an d a c t iv i t ie s of women’s groups on campus. “Petitions are the best way to get ph y sica l ev id en ce an d to m ake a point tha t s tuden ts do w ant a w om en’s resource cen­ ter on cam pus,” Chalk said. “This also allows us to feel out the adm inistrations to see what th e i r re s p o n s e w ill b e ,” O’Donnell added. F u n d in g fo r th e r e s o u rc e center will come from national and reg ional w om en’s groups. T he c o m m itte e a lr e a d y h a s